diff --git a/plugins/Note/plugin.py b/plugins/Note/plugin.py
index b89de964d..f76921a62 100644
--- a/plugins/Note/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/Note/plugin.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import supybot.ircmsgs as ircmsgs
 import supybot.plugins as plugins
 import supybot.ircutils as ircutils
 import supybot.callbacks as callbacks
+from supybot import commands
 from supybot.i18n import PluginInternationalization, internationalizeDocstring
 _ = PluginInternationalization('Note')
 
@@ -294,7 +295,8 @@ class Note(callbacks.Plugin):
         own = to
         for (option, arg) in optlist:
             if option == 'regexp':
-                criteria.append(arg.search)
+                criteria.append(lambda x: commands.regexp_wrapper(x, reobj=arg, 
+                        timeout=0.1, plugin_name = self.name(), fcn_name='search'))
             elif option == 'sent':
                 own = frm
         if glob:
diff --git a/plugins/Todo/plugin.py b/plugins/Todo/plugin.py
index 91a2f98e8..90065e83a 100644
--- a/plugins/Todo/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/Todo/plugin.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ from supybot.commands import *
 import supybot.plugins as plugins
 import supybot.ircutils as ircutils
 import supybot.callbacks as callbacks
+from supybot import commands
 from supybot.i18n import PluginInternationalization, internationalizeDocstring
 _ = PluginInternationalization('Todo')
 
@@ -237,6 +238,8 @@ class Todo(callbacks.Plugin):
         criteria = []
         for (option, arg) in optlist:
             if option == 'regexp':
+                criteria.append(lambda x: commands.regexp_wrapper(x, reobj=arg, 
+                        timeout=0.1, plugin_name = self.name(), fcn_name='search'))
                 criteria.append(arg.search)
         for glob in globs:
             glob = utils.python.glob2re(glob)
diff --git a/plugins/__init__.py b/plugins/__init__.py
index 2e9b2c14f..5c86f5162 100644
--- a/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import supybot.world as world
 from supybot.commands import *
 import supybot.ircutils as ircutils
 import supybot.callbacks as callbacks
+from supybot import commands
 
 ## i think we don't need any of this with sqlite3
 #try:
@@ -431,7 +432,9 @@ class ChannelIdDatabasePlugin(callbacks.Plugin):
             if opt == 'by':
                 predicates.append(lambda r, arg=arg: r.by == arg.id)
             elif opt == 'regexp':
-                predicates.append(lambda r, arg=arg: arg.search(r.text))
+                predicates.append(lambda x: commands.regexp_wrapper(x.text, reobj=arg, 
+                        timeout=0.1, plugin_name = self.name(), fcn_name='search'))
+                #predicates.append(lambda r, arg=arg: arg.search(r.text))
         if glob:
             def globP(r, glob=glob.lower()):
                 return fnmatch.fnmatch(r.text.lower(), glob)
diff --git a/src/commands.py b/src/commands.py
index f1ec2ded6..4c26e29a6 100644
--- a/src/commands.py
+++ b/src/commands.py
@@ -106,6 +106,24 @@ def process(f, *args, **kwargs):
         v = "Error: " + str(v)
     return v
 
+def regexp_wrapper(s, reobj, timeout, plugin_name, fcn_name):
+    '''A convenient wrapper to stuff regexp search queries through a subprocess.
+    
+    This is used because specially-crafted regexps can use exponential time
+    and hang the bot.'''
+    def re_bool(s, reobj):
+        """Since we can't enqueue match objects into the multiprocessing queue,
+        we'll just wrap the function to return bools."""
+        if reobj.search(s) is not None:
+            return True
+        else:
+            return False
+    try:
+        v = process(re_bool, s, reobj, timeout=timeout, pn=plugin_name, cn=fcn_name)
+        return v
+    except ProcessTimeoutError:
+        return False
+
 class UrlSnarfThread(world.SupyThread):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         assert 'url' in kwargs
diff --git a/src/version.py b/src/version.py
index b9b43b32f..8b46f4516 100644
--- a/src/version.py
+++ b/src/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """stick the various versioning attributes in here, so we only have to change
 them once."""
-version = '0.83.4.1+limnoria (2011-08-13T01:57:03+0200)'
+version = '0.83.4.1+limnoria (2011-08-13T01:59:18+0200)'